Receive the latest national-international updates in your inbox

Witnesses are speaking to NBC4 about what happened when a gunman opened fire inside the Mid-City police station. Ted Chen reports from Mid-City for the NBC4 news at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, 2014. (Published Tuesday, April 8, 2014)

An officer shot by a gunman at a Los Angeles Police Department station remained hospitalized in "great spirits" Tuesday as authorities released details about the shooting and the suspect.

The unidentified officer was shot multiple times but survived, even though he wasn't wearing an armored vest at the time, police said.

A meeting of the Olympic Park Neighborhood Council was being held in the building at the time.

Initial reports indicated that the officer was wearing the vest, but investigators later determined that was not the case.

"He (Yealu) went into the police station not only with his Glock ... pistol, but also with extra magazines, so the officers' response clearly saved not only their own lives but the lives of community members,'' LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said. "It is an amazing, an amazing story, that he would be here with us.

"He was struck twice in the shoulder ... and he took a round that would have gone through his femur and maybe his femoral artery ... but that round was stopped by his backup weapon that he had in his pocket."

Beck displayed the officer's backup handgun (pictured) and its holster, both of which were damaged.

The officer and his partner -- a female four-year veteran of the LAPD -- returned fire, wounding the suspect, police said.

He was taken to Cedars-Sinai in critical condition, before being booked into jail, police said.

A search of the suspect's Palms-area home turned up a cache of ammunition and weapons, police said. A bomb squad team on Monday night checked a vehicle believed to be connected to the gunman, officials said.

A rifle and multiple ammunition rounds were found in the vehicle, police said.